USC will participate in exchange with India

The University of South Carolina has been chosen to participate in a program to help build partnerships with higher education institutions in India.

USC is one of 10 institutions chosen by the Institute of International Education to participate in the 2010 International Academic Partnership Program. The USC team will work to foster international education exchange and research partnerships in engineering, environmental science, public health and healthcare.

“The primary objective in our IAPP pilot program is to partner with India’s educational institutions serving rural populations to identify critical problems faced by rural India in the fields of medicine, public health, energy, and environment and sustainability,” said Dr. T.S. Sudarshan, Carolina Distinguished Professor and chairman of USC’s department of electrical engineering. “With over 70 percent of India’s population in the rural areas, the people in these areas must be reached if we are to make a significant and important contribution to their quality of life. I am so pleased that our group has been awarded this opportunity to make a difference in the world.”

The program at USC will be led by Sudarshan; Dr. Venkat Lakshmi, professor and chair of the department of earth and ocean sciences; Dr. Meera Narasimhan, professor and vice chairman of the department of neuropsychiatry and behavioral science at the School of Medicine; and Patricia Willer, associate vice president for international programs.

The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, seeks to increase the number of international partnerships between higher-education institutions in the United States and India. More than 70 institutions competed for 10 spots.